


Before and After

by Darkicedragon



Category: AI: The Somnium Files (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Missing Scenes, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:41:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25734478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkicedragon/pseuds/Darkicedragon
Summary: Date's head was quieter without Aiba.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39
Collections: Parallels Fanworks Exchange 2020





	1. Before

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GaleWrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaleWrites/gifts).



Date's head was quieter without Aiba.  
  
"Hey, what do-" Date stopped, staring at the contents of the fridge. Right, Aiba wasn't... It was too much of an ingrained habit to ask her things.  
  
"Stew," Mizuki said, kicking the door closed behind her as she dropped her school bag on the floor.  
  
"I thought you said you hated my stew?" Date said, double-checking what he'd need to get. Aiba would have known what was missing and chimed in already, and Date let out a small breath, gripping the fridge door.  
  
Mizuki scowled at him. " _No_ , I just said I wasn't in the _mood_. I'm in the mood for it now."  
  
"All right, all right," Date said, raising his hands to placate her. "I'll need to go out and buy some ingredients though, so it'll be a while before it's ready."  
  
"That's fine. What are you buying?"  
  
"Huh?" Date looked at her in confusion. "Why do you want to know?" Mizuki had never asked him what he was getting at the shops before.  
  
Mizuki's scowl deepened. "It's so you don't forget anything, because I'm coming with you, _duh_. Got a problem with that?"  
  
"My memory isn't _that_ bad," Date said.  
  
"Yeah it is, old man. Are we going or not? It's going to be dark soon!"  
  
There wasn't much Date could do against Mizuki's strength as she pulled him out of the house by the hand.  
  


* * *

  
"Don't you have homework to do?" Date asked as they walked down the supermarket aisles.  
  
"Already finished it on the train home," Mizuki said. "We're close to the holidays so they're not giving us much anyway." Her gaze kept drifting back to the snacks selection.  
  
"You can get some snacks so long as you eat them after dinner," Date said, grabbing something else.  
  
"I didn't say I wanted any!" Mizuki retorted instantly. "Stupid Date," she muttered under her breath.  
  
While Date reached for more ingredients, he saw Mizuki sneak a few chocolate bars into their basket from the corner of his eye.  
  
Did she think he wouldn't notice when he had to pay...?  
  


* * *

  
"What are you going to do?" Mizuki asked, leaning back against the kitchen counter as Date unpacked the shopping bags.  
  
"Make stew," Date said, collecting a pot. "Did you change your mind?"  
  
Mizuki sighed irritably. " _No_. How do you cook it?"  
  
Date hesitated for a second before he set the pot on the cooker. Mizuki was being unusually helpful - had something happened? "Oh?" he said, grinning at her. "Are you wanting to know my special recipe?"  
  
"W-what? No, of course not!"  
  
She did? Huh. "The first step-" Date said, holding up a finger, "-involves washing your hands."  
  
Mizuki squinted at him for a few seconds before turning around to wash her hands in the sink. "I don't see you washing _your_ hands."  
  
"There's only one sink!"  
  
"I didn't see you washing your hands before cooking _either_."  
  
She was watching him that much, huh? "I did it while you weren't looking."  
  
"You did not! And I would have heard the running water too."  
  
"I moved fast enough to wash my hands before the spray hit the sink," Date said, reaching over to wash his hands, since Mizuki was leaving the tap on.  
  
Mizuki scowled at him, studying him. "You're a bad liar, Date."  
  
"You don't think I can move that fast?" Date said, waiting for Aiba's retort about dirty magazines. It didn't come, and he turned the tap off.  
  
"I've seen you rush around for work," Mizuki said as she dried her hands. "If you did, you wouldn't be late all the time."  
  
"Not all the time," Date said, sorting through the ingredients.  
  
" _All_ the time," Mizuki repeated. "Boss said so."  
  
...Should he be worried those two seemed to be talking more together? But it would be good for Mizuki to talk to more people.  
  


* * *

  
Mizuki frowned at her bowl, not eating it.  
  
"Still too hot?" Date asked, stirring his own stew.  
  
"No..." She picked up her spoon and carefully dipped it in, like she wasn't sure what it would do.  
  
Oh, right. Date ate some and hummed, Mizuki watching him, looking like she wasn't breathing.  
  
She ducked her head and ate some. Her eyes widened and she kept eating.  
  
"What do you think?"  
  
Mizuki had another spoonful and huffed. "It tastes better like this."  
  
Date nodded. Mizuki had flavoured it to her taste, which was less salt than he normally put in, so he'd have to keep that in mind in the future.  
  
"But I'm not cooking all the time," she rushed to add, scowling at him.  
  
Maybe he could find something else she would like to eat and cook herself.  
  


* * *

  
"When are we going to see Iris?" Mizuki asked.  
  
"Visiting hours won't be for a while," Date said as he washed the dishes.  
  
"But by the time we get to the hospital it'll be closer to when we can see her, right?" Mizuki insisted.  
  
"...Yeah, all right," Date said, nodded. It would be good to see how Iris was doing.  
  


* * *

  
"Date! Mizuki!" Iris said from her bed, smiling when she saw them. She looked pale, shadows under eyes, and her bed had been adjusted so she could sit up. Hitomi was sitting in a chair next to her, and Date hesitated at the sight of her. He and Mizuki had arrived as soon as visiting hours had opened so Hitomi must have arrived just before them. Maybe she would want-  
  
"Come in, come in," Hitomi said. Mizuki had already entered, bringing over one of the chairs.  
  
Well, if they were all right with it. Date went in to join them.  
  


* * *

  
Mizuki turned to Date when there was a lull in the conversation."You need to leave."  
  
"Uh, what?" He blinked at her.  
  
Mizuki pointed to the door. "You need to leave _now_."  
  
"Aah," Iris said with a soft laugh, "are you sure-?"  
  
Was there something she didn't want him to know?  
  
Hitomi cleared her throat, drawing Date's attention to her. "I think Mizuki wants to discuss something with us that she doesn't want to with you...?"  
  
What could that be? Mizuki didn't always tell him everything and... And...  
  
Date looked around at everyone. Hitomi, Iris, Mizuki.  
  
Mizuki wanted to talk alone with older women.  
  
He paled, eyes going wide.  
  
Oh. _Oooh_. She was at that age, wasn't she?  
  
"Right, uh, I'll just be outside then," Date said, before leaving. At least he didn't have to talk to her about that.  
  


* * *

  
Mizuki stared out the car window as Date drove them home.  
  
Date's eye was drawn to a few convenience stores as they passed them.  
  
"Do you want to pick something up from the store?" he asked at a red light, tapping the steering wheel. He was going to have to get used to this, huh?  
  
"What for?" Mizuki said, still staring out of the car.  
  
"If there's something you need."  
  
She looked over at him, frowning. "I don't need anything."  
  
"All right." The lights changed and Date started driving again. Maybe he should stock up on different things anyway, for when she would need them.  
  
He had thought it would have been Renju and Shoko who would talk to her about growing up; he'd assumed Mizuki would eventually go back to them one day and he didn't need to think about it.  
  
But that wasn't happening now. They were gone, and they weren't coming back.  
  
Mizuki was alone.  
  
Date knew what Aiba would have said, even if he couldn't hear her voice again either.  
  
He would need to look up the adoption process first, before fielding it with Mizuki, to see how she felt about it.


	2. After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Date's head was no longer as quiet.

Date stared in a haze as everyone left the warehouse district, some in pairs, others in groups.  
  
"Were you surprised?" Mizuki said, running up to him with a grin.  
  
"That's a word for it..." Date said. There were so many other words for it as well, but that was one way to describe the swirling emotions in him.  
  
"All right!" Mizuki punched the air. "Keeping a secret from you is easy!"  
  
Date stared at her. "Wait, _that's_ what you were being secretive about?"  
  
Mizuki nodded. "Yeah. What did you think we were talking about?"  
  
He sighed, closing his eyes. "Never mind..."  
  
[Do I want to know...?]  
  
Date smiled, hearing Aiba's familiar voice inside his head. She was standing by Mizuki's right shoulder, looking unimpressed at him. ' _You'll probably find out soon anyway._ ' Now that she was back in his head and could hear all his thoughts. ' _I'd missed you, Aiba_.'  
  
She smiled back. [And I too, Date.]  
  


* * *

  
Aiba was out of Date's eye socket, sitting next to adorabbit as he cleaned the house.  
  
"Is it weird for you seeing me like this?" Date asked, cleaning the cup stain off his music player. Had Mizuki left something on top of it?  
  
Aiba was showing him what he was seeing, and it was taking a while to adjust back to the double vision again, let alone the face she was showing him.  
  
[I guess you look more rugged like that. But no matter your face, you're still Date to me.]  
  
That was good to hear.  
  


* * *

  
Aiba peered at the sink while Date was trying to read. "Aiba, I don't want to be seeing a sink all the time."  
  
[Did you clean this at all while I was away?]  
  
Date grimaced as Aiba zoomed in, seeing every little stain. "I did!" Even with his eyes closed he could see what Aiba was. Had her eyesight been enhanced to see bacteria now?  
  
The front door opened, and Aiba looked up to see Mizuki there. "I'm home!"  
  
Date looked over, smiling. "Welcome back."  
  
[Welcome back!] Aiba waddled over to Mizuki, Mizuki holding her hand out and carrying Aiba to her shoulder.  
  
Huh. "How much did you meet up before?" Date asked. He didn't know Mizuki had known Aiba could walk around by herself.  
  
"Lots of times - we had to practice dancing, and Aiba was really good at pointing out when we were out of sync."  
  
[Mizuki picked up the dance moves the quickest out of everyone,] Aiba added.  
  
"Ooh, really? That's great!"  
  
Mizuki looked away, crossing her arms. "It wasn't _that_ hard..."  
  
With Aiba so close, Date could see the small blush growing on Mizuki's face.  
  


* * *

  
Date watched Mizuki, making sure she was soundly asleep before turning away. Aiba had returned to his eye socket, projecting her AR form on the sofa.  
  
"I've adopted her," he told her softly. So much had happened over the past three months it was hard to know where to start, to remember what Aiba wouldn't know.  
  
[Hmph, of course I know that,] Aiba said, flicking her hair behind her shoulders.  
  
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Wait, how?"  
  
[The details of her adoption are findable with anyone with an internet connection,] Aiba said, [and there has been much news coverage of the Okiura heir and what's to happen to Lemniscate.]  
  
Right, it would be pretty easy to find out for anyone who went looking.  
  
Aiba smiled at him, amused. [But Mizuki told me herself, less than an hour after it was made official.]  
  
"That was why she'd run off?" He'd remembered that but thought she'd needed to use the toilet.  
  
Aiba sighed, shaking her head. [You really can be unobservant sometimes.]  
  


* * *

  
[Date.]  
  
He kept typing the recent report, listening to her. "Yeah?"  
  
[Mizuki will be arriving home soon - we should start preparing dinner.]  
  
He glanced at the clock, before standing up and walking to the fridge. "Is it that time already? What do you think we should have?"  
  
[You're going to need to buy more ingredients unless you want to make omurice,] Aiba said before he opened the fridge door.  
  
Date grimaced. "She gets that enough at Ota's and Sunfish Pocket."  
  
[Then I suggest we leave right now to give us enough time to make something for Mizuki.]  
  
Date grabbed his jacket, pulling it on as he left the house. "Hey, Aiba?"  
  
[Mm?] She had been walking a little ahead of him and she turned back to look at him over her shoulder.  
  
"I'm glad you're back." He'd said it before, but he couldn't state it enough times to convey how much it meant to him.  
  
She smiled softly at that. [Is it that lonely in your head without me?]  
  
"Yeah, it really was." He exhaled, glancing up at the sky for a second. He'd lived with her voice for years - to suddenly not hear her... It had hurt.  
  
[Weeell, I'm not going anywhere any time soon this time,] she said, [so let's get going!]  
  
Date smiled, following her. Yeah, he knew that now.  
  
Date's head was no longer as quiet and he _much_ preferred it that way.


End file.
